


What's That Short For?

by moovelope



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, But let's not spoil them, Canon-Typical Adventure, Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-08 16:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12868608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moovelope/pseuds/moovelope
Summary: The Doctor and Amy plan to play tourists on a meteorologicaly interesting planet, but of course the Doctor has messed up his landing time. As the pair wait for the next tour to start, they realize they might not be alone in the large and echoing terminal.





	What's That Short For?

**Author's Note:**

> This was started back when Amy was still the current companion and Google assures me that hasn't been the case since 2012. Please take my writing process away from me.

"Now this is an interesting little planet!  Well, not exactly little since it's four times the size of Earth, but in the grand scheme of things, quite small!" The Doctor babbled, flipping switches and turning gears all around the console.  He gave a little twist on the time stabilizer and a quick switch of the vortex matrix.  
  
"What makes this planet so interesting?" Amy asked. She circled around the console behind him, arms folded over her chest and lips quirked in amusement.  She tried to catch a glimpse of where they were going on the viewport, not that it would help.  Unless she had learned Gallifreyan in the past hour it didn't matter if she saw the screen or not.  The Doctor kept rotating the screen with him, though. He simply loved teasing her.  
  
"Krettix's most interesting feature is its weather patterns!  For half of the year the whole planet is swept through with extreme heat and wind, making the surface a horrible desert. The other half of the time the planet goes through an ice age.  How cool is that?" The Doctor asked with an excited smile.  Amy frowned.  
  
"Wait, Doctor, why are we even going there when the planet is so horrible?  As soon as we step out of the TARDIS we'll either freeze or burn to death."  
  
"What? No, don't be ridiculous.  Of course we won't die.  For one, there are three days in between each weather cycle the planet has a habitable mild temperature.  The native people throw wonderful parties (though they always go too far with the brandy) for six days out of the year."  
  
"How can there be people on the planet?  If they can only survive for those six days what do they do during the rest?" Amy interrupted.  
  
"Work underground, of course.  Krettix's is a major mining planet."

“Oh, _obviously_ a mining planet, that would be it.  Can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself,” Amy said.  
  
The Doctor laughed as he quickly stepped on the brakes and the TARDIS lurched violently, knocking him and Amy over on the console.  
  
"Lighten up on the landing next time Doctor, I think I impaled myself on that lever." Amy groaned, holding her stomach as he picked himself up off the floor.  
  
"We'll have time for bodily harm later.  Right now we're going to enjoy the best aspect of Krettix." And with that he hopped down to the front door and motioned for Amy to follow him.  
  
"And that is?" she asked, striding past him and out the door.

“Tourism! Scores of people visit the planet to see the huge mining equipment and their museums about building underground. It’s always bustling here at—”

They walked into a huge hall, with airport looking terminals lining down the right and stories tall windows to their left. A monumental snow storm was raging outside, giving the huge chamber a bluish glow. The place was absolutely empty. Amy laughed a little, her breath showing faintly in the chilled room.

“Sure is bustling here at Krettix!” she said, looking around. “Where is everyone?”

The Doctor deflated a little. “We must have arrived in-between tours.  They don’t usually leave anyone on the surface, no need to. Ugh, it might be hours before they come back.” He began to run his hands through his hair.

Amy punched him playfully on the shoulder. “We could just hop into the TARDIS and come back in a few hours. But we might miss it again—”

“MOM?”

The Doctor and Amy whipped their heads around towards a voice, echoing down the hall.

“DAD?”

“I thought you said there wasn’t supposed to be anyone here?” Amy asked.

“There isn’t supposed to be. Think we should go check it out?” he replied.

Amy snorted. “How is that even a question? Come on!”

The pair ran down the length of the hall, footsteps echoing along with the voice that kept calling out.  The two turned down one terminal, and were able to see a girl.  She was in her middle to late teens, dressed for summer, and had an unfortunate love of purple going by the matching socks and t-shirt.  But that was alright, not everyone could have a reasonable favorite color like blue.  
  
The Doctor took the lead and strode over to the girl.

"Mom, Dad! Damn it all, MOM!" she yelled as she turned, jumping a bit as she noticed the Doctor and Amy.  
  
"Hello there! I was wondering if you needed any help," he said with a smile.  Smiling calmed people, made them stop panicking for a bit.  Oddly enough, it didn't seem to be working.  The girl only gave them a passing glance.  
  
"What? No, no, I'm fine.  Just looking for someone.  Excuse me.  Dad, mom!" she yelled, walking past the pair.  
  
"No, it's alright.  We can help find your parents," Amy offered.  
  
"Yes, see?  We're terminal inspectors," the Doctor said as he flashed the psychic paper towards her, "It's our job to help with this sort of thing.  Now, did they get on a tour without you?  When's the last time you saw them?"  
  
The girl gave him a steady look.  Actually, no, it was more… fierce.  She obviously didn't want to be helped.  Which was very interesting.  
  
"You don't have to worry about me; I'll find my family in no time.  I am perfectly capable Mr-?"  
  
"Doctor, just Doctor.  And this is my lovely assistant Amy Pond," the Doctor replied, briefly motioning to Amy.  Oh wait, there!  What was that expression that flew across the girl's face?  Fear?  Perhaps.  It seemed more like shock.  She simply stared at him for a moment before collecting herself.  
  
"I-I better be...I better be going.  I'll find my mum and- I'll find my parents soon enough."  And with that, she took off further down the hall of one of the main docking ports.  
  
"Well, this is one way to kill time before the next tour," Amy said with a smile.  
  
"It seems like it!  Follow that girl!" the Doctor yelled.  
  
"Oh hush, you'll scare her!" Amy yelled back as they ran.

She was fast, the little bugger. They quickly lost sight of her amongst the different landing bays and supply rooms.  The Doctor sometimes envied small children; somehow their little legs always could run faster than he could hope to. He and Amy split up to cover more ground, which was how the Doctor found himself in a small museum section made for guests before their shuttle arrived to take them back home.  He took a moment to refresh himself with the planet’s history, from the planet’s discovery to the early mining ages, the hardships that were faced and then a surprising economic boom. He frowned a bit. He might’ve been the cause of that upswing in production.

As he got nearer to the end he saw that there was a newer addition to the timeline, instead of printed along with the rest it was a sticker added on after the fact.

“Recent history,” the Doctor read under his breath, “fifty years ago during the burning season an explosion leveled half of the touring facility, killing hundreds in the blast and leaving hundreds more exposed to the elements. Research indicates that the explosion was caused by—”

“Doctor, this way!” he heard Amy call out. The Doctor turned and ran in her direction, nearly tripping himself up over a forgotten wet floor sign. He found Amy outside of the restrooms (with doors that read: Male, Female, Light Being, ???, Whoever). She was panting, and rather cross looking.

“Where is she?” the Doctor asked, looking up and down the hall. Amy groaned.

“I thought I caught up to her, and I reached out to grab her hand, but. She must have snatched it away at the last second or something. And then she got away again. It’s strange though, I could have sworn I grabbed her wrist.”

The Doctor began to pace back and forth in agitation. “Alright, think Amy. What do we know?”

“That’s she’s a fast little thing,” Amy replied, annoyed.

“Nothing out of the ordinary though. She’s looking for her parents, but around the terminal. The only way they should have been able to leave her behind would be on a tour, or maybe they left on a ship. So. Why is she calling out for them here?”

Amy blinked. “You’re right, that’s odd. That, and she must be freezing, wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. You’d think her parents would have made sure she dressed warmer.”

The Doctor halted in his pacing. The girl was dressed for summer, was lost and confused and calling for her parents who couldn’t be in the terminal…

“You said that you weren’t able to grab her? Did it feel like your hand passed through her?” the Doctor asked quietly. Amy nodded. The Doctor suddenly remembered the look of fear that flashed across the girls face when she first heard his name.

“Doctor, you look pale. What—”

“She’s dead,” he whispered. “There was an explosion that killed hundreds of people here half a century ago. It happened during the burning season, it would have been nice and warm in here. I didn’t read what caused the explosion but. She recognized me, when I said my name.”

Amy shivered. “Are you saying that...she’s a ghost? And that you might have been there at the time of the explosion?”

The Doctor perked up a bit. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, Amy. She could be a computer projection of one of the lost victims, though I don’t know why such a program would be set up. Though, there was that time at The Library… Whatever the case, I need to talk to her.”

Amy nodded, luckily not pushing any further. They continued to search, up and down the terminals.

Amy was the first to hear the whispers, tucked away near a ticket booth. There stood the girl that they had seen, as well as a slightly older looking boy. He had lighter brown hair, and a pair of large glasses sliding down his nose.

“I’m telling you Al, it was him. We need to find mom and dad and get out of here. Everything just feels…wrong.”

“What are the chances that it’s him? And you’re right, we need to head back to—”

Amy coughed loudly, causing the siblings to jump.

“I’m sorry for scaring you earlier. We didn’t mean to chase you away,” she said calmly. The Doctor was always surprised when Amy could handle children well.

“Emily, is that…?” the boy whispered. She was frozen, staring resolutely at the Doctor.

“We don’t need your help,” she said, “Please leave us alone. Come on Al, take me to mom and dad.”

The two took off running and Amy groaned. “This is ridiculous. If she can remember you then why doesn’t she realize that she’s dead? Why don’t they want any help?”

“I still don’t understand,” the Doctor said, frustrated beyond belief.  Something wasn’t adding up with all of this.  He needed to know if he was going to be the one to cause the explosion, or if he could somehow avoid it altogether. “I need to talk to them, come on, we can catch up.”

Amy and the Doctor ran down a few MORE hallways (seriously, how large was this terminal?) then ducked into the service tunnels heading towards some maintenance closets. Amy was cursing under her breath at all of the running, while the Doctor strained his ears to hear two sets of feet up ahead of them.

Panting, the Doctor and Amy stopped in front of one closet, light filtering out from underneath the door. The voices inside were muffled, different from Emily and Al’s.

He grabbed the door handle and turned to Amy, who nodded. The pair burst into the room.

The Doctor first caught sight of the children, who whipped their heads around in surprise. But behind them was.

No.

No it couldn’t be.

Amy was talking beside him, her words muffled in his ears. He felt as though he were about to pass out, if he were being honest with himself. Because there, standing not ten feet from him, was Rose Tyler and his Meta-Crisis self.

They both looked a few decades older, wrinkles around the eyes and grey streaking his other self’s temples. With a jolt he fully realized who the two children were.

“Is Al short for Alonso?” he asked, then slapped a hand over his mouth. How could that be the first question to come to mind in this situation?

“It can’t be,” Rose said, and... He’d nearly forgotten what her voice sounded like. Memories started to flood his brain, which he quickly shut down before they became overwhelming.

His Meta-Crisis self laughed, “I think it is. Only with my luck would we manage to accidentally get stuck in-between universes _and_ bump into my alternate self in one go,” he paused for a moment.  “Can’t say I’m liking the bow-tie.”

“What? Bow-ties are—”

Amy slapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish a well-deserved defense of the bow-tie. “Nope, bow-ties are ridiculous and what’s more ridiculous is that no one is explaining _what_ is going on here so. Fill me in, somebody.”

The Doctor blew a raspberry into her palm so she’d let go. “This is um. Well.”

Rose stepped forward and held a hand out. Amy attempted to grab it, only to have her hand pass right through.

“Oh! Forgot to mention Rose, we’re not completely tangible here. Trapped between two universes and all that,” the other Doctor interjected. Rose sighed.

“Couldn’t have mentioned it a second sooner, huh? Oh well. I’m Rose Tyler, previous companion of your Doctor. I managed to get myself sucked into a parallel universe. Then managed to get back, I ‘spose. My husband here is…well a bit of a clone of the Doctor. Half human, half time-lord. And this is Alonso and Emily, our two little rays of sunshine.”

Amy looked a little bowled over. “Parallel….Ok well, I’m Amy Pond. Current companion of this idiot.”

The Doctor flushed in embarrassment as both Rose and his duplicate self laughed.

“Ah, sorry Doctor,” Rose said, wiping a stray tear from her eye, “You should’ve learned your lesson about gingers being cheeky.” The Doctor registered Amy and the others gathering towards a line of lockers on the far side of the room. At the end of the row, one locker was fazing in and out of view. Oh, they managed to get the chameleon circuit working, then. The Doctor blinked and focused on Rose again.

“You’re right, you’d think I’d be able to get used to that sort of thing. I should also expect that everything I think is impossible will happen to me one day or another. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again,” the Doctor said. It was so strange. Rose certainly looked older, but all he could see was that blazing woman smiling through. She was still the same Rose who had taken the time vortex into her mind, who had defeated evil and risked her life to catapult herself between universes.

“I’ve gotten used to expecting the impossible. Helps deal with tragedies and accidents…sort of like this one,” Rose said, looking down at her slightly see-through hands. “Hah, it’s a bit like the first time on the beach, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“I’m the intangible one now,” she explained. The Doctor laughed softly. The warm feeling of familiarity was settling pleasantly in his chest, mixed with long standing regret and loss. There was a pause between the two of them.

“Are you…are you happy now? Would you say? My other self treating you well?” he asked. She smiled and turned around automatically to look at his Meta-Crisis self. He was explaining something to Amy, as their…their children listened impatiently.

“We have our ups and downs but... Honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better life. Truly, I couldn’t,” she said, looking back at the Doctor. “Thank you for that.”

The Doctor smiled as well, “I guess I helped a little with that. I’m glad ol’ Lefty turned out alright.”

“How about you, Doctor? It looks like Amy’s good for you; hopefully she keeps you in check.”

“Oh, she tries,” he said. Rose quirked an eyebrow, “Alright, fine she’s very good at keeping me in line. Too good at times. And I’m doing pretty well, if I do say so myself.”

“Rose! The TARDIS is starting to phase back entirely to our universe. Hurry up on the goodbyes, we have to go!” the other Doctor called from across the room. Rose looked at the Doctor, and the two rushed over to the row of lockers (plus one interdimensional time traveling ship).

“I’m comin’, I’m comin’,” Rose griped. Alonso looked incredibly concerned at the situation.

“Mom, if we don’t go soon we’ll get trapped here and what if never get to see Grandma and Grandpa again or what if—”

Rose reached up and ruffled his hair, causing his glasses to fall down his nose.

“Hey, Jackie Jr, we’re gonna be fine, yeah? Just give me a second to say goodbye. You and Emily can hop in and get everything ready.”

Alonso nodded and threw open the door of the locker, running into the TARDIS. Emily paused at the door, looking over to the Doctor and Amy.

“It was nice meeting you,” she said.

“Nice meeting you too,” Amy replied.

“Same,” the Doctor said, a slight lump in his throat.

His Meta-Crisis self gave him a quick stern look, “Don’t forget to be responsible, alright?”

Amy laughed as he Doctor bristled. “I’m always responsible! Most of the time! At least when it’s important.”

The other Doctor laughed, and headed into the TARDIS after his children. The Doctor turned back to Rose.

“Seems like the universe just can’t keep us apart. I’ve got a feeling I’ll see you again, Rose Tyler.”

Her eyes lit up, “Not if I see you first.”

Amy snorted next to him as he laughed. Rose turned and stepped into a TARDIS that was still young and full of life. She paused, and gave the pair outside one last wave. The Doctor raised his hand to reciprocate, but the door was already closing, and the muffled sound of the TARDIS dematerializing filled the room. All too quickly there was one less locker in the maintenance room. Amy and the Doctor stood in silence for a moment.

“Well…that was…” Amy began to say, but petered off, not sure where the sentence ended. A low hum worked its way into their ears, their breath disappearing from the air.

“The heating is turning back on…The tours must be coming back up from the mines. Still interested in exploring?” the Doctor asked, the smile he put on his face barely feeling forced. Amy leveled him with a gaze, but eventually gave up whatever argument she planned to start.

“Lead the way, Raggedy Man,” she said and gestured back towards the main terminals. The Doctor skipped ahead of her. Whatever aching feeling he’d had in his chest was already (forcefully) forgotten. Time to keep moving forward.

“This way, Pond!”


End file.
